Since we were working on sleep, we have been also interested in non-medicinal means to solve sleep disorders. After some investigations, we met professionals that work everyday on the human body and sometimes their own body. That work is known as an efficient way to find a solution against sleep difficulties.

First, we had the opportunity to attend a yoga session with Patrick Boulon as the leader. We learnt a different way to breathe called « fire breath » used jointly with movements and postures related to a specific type of yoga called Kounda-lini (“royal yoga”). During this session, we were invited to do some meditation with songs called Mantra originally from India. It seems that yoga is beneficial against sleep disorders as long as the daily pressure causes them. The energy that is released when we combine a posture of tension with a strong breath help to evacuate the stress. We had a very good time trying out something different as it was our first time.
With the yoga session, we discovered a way to relax by working on our own body. But some professionals also use to work on the body of someone else in order to find the origin of pain or tension.

We also had the opportunity to interview a chiropractor, Pierre Henri Champaud, and a student in osteopathy, Anouk Antrig. Both practice a very manual work on the body.

As a chiropractor, Pierre Henri Champaud try to relieve his patients by focusing on the nervous system. He works on articulations to release the nervous system from interferences. Sometimes, an articulation with reduced mobility can lead to repercussions on muscles or organs related to spinal column. This way, a chiropractor focuses on very functional aspects and he manages to solve many problems related to stresses such as physical stress, chemical stress or emotional stress. When he has released patients from their stress, he has helped them to sleep better since sleep is related to physical and emotional health.

While Pierre Henri Champaud concentrate on the spinal column, Anouk Antrig tries to work on the whole body with osteopathy. She is looking for the physical and emotional well being of the body. According to her, sometimes a dysfunction appears in a precise spot, however the patient feels a pain in another part of the body. As an osteopath, her role is to find the origin of this pain to relieve the patient. Usually, Anouk can meet people suffering from a deterioration of sleep due to the growing pain. As she relieves them from the pain, they can sleep better again.

Talking about sleep disorders

As part of its project “Sleep with C elegans” the iGEM Bordeaux 2016 team carried out several interviews. The people interviewed suffer from minor or major sleep disorders. We were interested in their pathology, the causes and the medical consequences on their health. This constitutes the factual and scientific aspect of this disease: it is what motivates pharmaceutical industries to produce drugs, what motivates researchers to solve the mysteries of mechanisms leading to sleep disorders and what motivates the iGEM Bordeaux 2016 team to develop a treatment thanks to synthetic biology, that would be an alternative to a chemical treatment.
However, we were especially curious about the daily life of these people. We were interested in what they felt and about the impacts of sleep disorders on their routine. We explained our project and the benefits of synthetic biology in the development of treatments for sleep disorders. They gave us their opinion on the question.
Here under, you will find several testimonies. All the people interviewed have authorized the use of the information collected during an interview as part of our project. The text might have been modified in order to preserve the person's intimacy or for confidentiality reasons.

Click there to read the interview